Make it or lose it

Generally speaking, conservatives are big on national security. It’s not that we love spending lots of money on our military, it’s just that the age of rapidly advancing technology demands that we do. Constant vigilance over the whopping $664 billion budget is imperative, for no one wants to waste money on $400 toilet seats (or $16 muffins for that matter).

One way to keep the budget in line is to do what the private sector is doing: outsource manufacturing of component parts to other countries with cheaper labor. The bottom line rules in capitalism. In the pursuit of ever increasing profits and ever decreasing costs, U.S. manufacturers have scoured the world for the lowest labor rates and highest capabilities. The search has terminated in the Orient: Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, India and China have become the partners of choice for the making of parts and pieces that fulfill the design and engineering marvels dreamed up on these shores. From toys to engines, from sneakers to circuit boards, Asia pumps them out to our specifications. It is a symbiotic relationship, one in which we, the inventors, achieve maximum profitability, and they, the makers, gain steady employment and paychecks never before seen.

And never before have they had jobs like they do now. Many of those jobs are in construction, building more manufacturing plants with state-of-the-art capabilities. Simultaneously they are constructing more ships — the New Panamax container carriers that are bigger than you can even imagine. With a beam of more than 100 feet and nearly 1,000 feet in length, these babies will carry double what you see on the ships coming into Savannah today. That means a whole bunch of stuff that’s being made overseas is heading this way.

Many years ago, when the manufacturing of our products began to transition to the other side of the world, the alarm was slow to sound. Eventually there came an outcry over lost jobs and wages. Now, that cry has turned into a scream. Perhaps you recall that last week I mentioned we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. And, that companies will continue to seek favorable business climates off shore until the condition is rectified. That has bearing on my point today, but this all leads to something even more pressing.

Jobs aside, America wants to believe it has been promoted from ‘maker’ to ‘innovator,’ that it has been released from the mundane to traverse to a higher calling. We have come to think of ‘technology’ as software, as social media marketing and service sector enhancements in communications. Our advancements are chronicled from email to instant messaging to mobile texting to Facebook. Yet, on the face of it, Facebook is nothing more than fancy email. While we concentrate on the next big app, Asia concentrates on next-generation power switching terminals and laser guided CNC machining.

And the problem with all of that according to a recent Harvard Business Review article is this: Innovation is inexorably tied to the engineering and manufacturing process. In other words, once you remove yourself from the ‘making’ you lose the ability to improve, to invent. Soon, we may not have the foggiest clue how to fabricate a jet part.

Conservatives aren’t worried just about the out-of-control spending or the outrageous taxes on business or even about the loss of jobs. They’re also worried about an administration that doesn’t understand the importance of bringing our companies home. We’ve got to build things — things that matter — so we can fill those New Panamax ships with stuff to go back to Asia. It is indeed about national security.